Dying Stars’ Cocoons Might Explain Fast Blue Optical Transients
Ever since they were discovered in 2018, fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) have utterly surprised and completely confounded both observational and theoretical astrophysicists. So...
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CIERA High School Researcher is Regeneron National Science Talent Search Grand Prize Winner
High school student Christine Ye, who has been conducting research with NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow Maya Fischbach since Fall 2020, has been named the...
Black holes of ‘all shapes and sizes’ in new gravitational-wave catalog
Largest catalog ever assembled, detailing 35 events, released today An international team of researchers, including Northwestern University astrophysicists, has released the largest-ever catalog of...
Astrophysicists detect first black hole-neutron star mergers
Image credit: Carl Knox, OzGrav/Swinburne (“Rainbow Swirl Refracted” is an artistic image inspired by a Black Hole Neutron Star merger event) A long time...
Intense radio blasts traced to galaxies’ spiral arms
Using deep-space imaging from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered that some peculiar, short-lived phenomena have an even more...
Stunning simulation of stars being born is most realistic ever
A team including Northwestern University astrophysicists has developed the most realistic, highest-resolution 3D simulation of star formation to date. The result is a visually...
‘Oddball supernova’ appears strangely cool before exploding
Banner image: An artistic impression of a blue companion star stripping hydrogen from a yellow supergiant. Credit: Kavli IPMU/Aya Tsuboi A curiously yellow star...
New Kind of Space Explosion Reveals the Birth of a Black Hole
In 2018, astronomers were shocked to find a bizarre explosion in a galaxy 200 million light-years away. It wasn’t like any normal supernova seen...
Growing Inventory of Black Holes Offers a Radical Probe of the Cosmos
When the first black hole collision was detected in 2015, it was a watershed moment in the history of astronomy. With gravitational waves, astronomers...
‘Unicorn’ Discovery Points to a New Population of Black Holes
Almost a decade ago, Feryal Özel and her colleagues noticed something odd. While a variety of possible black holes had been found in our galaxy, none...
Faucher-Giguère Named Highly Cited Researcher for Second Year
Associate Professor Claude-André Faucher-Giguère was included in the Space Science category of the Highly Cited Researchers 2020 List by Clarivate Analytics. The annual list...
Planets to appear nearly aligned creating ‘Christmas star’ last widely visible 800 years ago
When something inordinately rare or unexpected happens, it is said “the planets aligned.” On Dec. 21, the winter solstice, two planets will appear nearly...